Maids Union Balks at Order to Scrub Floors by Hand

BOSTON — The 44 chambermaids at the posh Copley Plaza Hotel have been told they can no longer use mops but must hand-wash bathroom floors, an order the head of the union called demeaning and insensitive, it was reported today.

"And that clearly means on their hands and knees," Dominic Bozzotto, president of Local 26 of the Boston hotel workers union, told the Boston Globe.

He said the union has filed a grievance.

"I don't see it as a hardship for the maids," said Alan Tremain, head of Hotels of Distinction, which operates the Copley Plaza where the 393 rooms rent for $140 to $195 a night and where he lives.